A first generation American, Skaar (born 1969) still holds a strong connection to her ancestral home in Scandinavia. Fluent in Norwegian, she moved to Norway from the San Francisco Bay Area, California, at 18, to attend the National Academy of Arts in Oslo where she received her BA in graphic design and illustration.  She debuted her work as a painter in 2014, when she had her first solo show ICEHARDSHIPBEAUTY.  Since then, her art has been a primary focus and she has exhibited locally and abroad, and has continued to find inspiration in Maine as well as in the High North. Skaar has participated in residencies at Galleri Svalbard at 78 degrees north in Longyearbyen, Norway in 2015; as well as a residency onboard an EIMSKIP container ship traveling from Portland, ME to Reykjavik, Iceland in 2016. She has gathered material for her work in Ilulissat, Greenland, in 2017, at the site of the largest, active glacier in the northern hemisphere and was awarded the Maine Media Workshop’s Book Artist in Residency in 2016 for which she produced the fine art book Bears and Ruins. Skaar has also produced numerous talks and articles related to her work and travels. Skaar currently holds the position of Creative Director for the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. She exhibits regularly and continues to paint and produce multimedia work.